When considering educational improvement, there are several enormous challenges external to schools that must be faced, including rapid changes in economics and technology, the vast growth of knowledge, and global ecological problems. This article addresses weaknesses and opportunities for change in Finnish primary schools, analyzing the current system with an eye to future social trends. It begins with a discussion of striving for homogeneity in educational opportunities for Finnish children, and then describes current research on the nature of the country's academic achievement levels. It then moves into a discussion of two areas in which this homogeneity of opportunity has not been achieved: gender equality and socioeconomic status. The article then explores future trends and education's response to them, such as changing views of the value of different types of learning (theoretical, processed information versus experiential learning, global and thinking, for example) and the changing nature of work (for example, the suggestion that rising unemployment rates call into question traditional educational models). The article concludes with some comments on how this "futures" perspective can be incorporated in everyday education. Contains 39 references. (EV)